Billions of people globally gained access to improved drinking water sources and sanitation in the last decades, following effort towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Global progress remains a general indicator as it is unclear if access is equitable across groups of the population. Agenda 2030 calling for `leaving no one behind', there is a need to focus on the variations of access in different groups of the population, especially in the context of low- and middle-income countries including Malawi. We analyzed data from Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) to describe emerging trends on progress and inequalities in water supply and sanitation services over a 25-year period (1992–2017), as well as to identify the most vulnerable populations in Malawi. Data were disaggregated with geographic and socio-economic characteristics including regions, urban and rural areas, wealth and education level. Analysis of available data revealed progress in access to water and sanitation among all groups of the population. The largest progress was generally observed in the groups that were further behind at the baseline year, which likely reflects good targeting in interventions/improvements to reduce the gap in the population. Overall, results demonstrated that some segments of the population – foremost poorest Southern rural populations – still have limited access to water and are forced to practise open defecation. Finally, we suggest including standardized indicators that address safely managed drinking water and sanitation services in future surveys and studies to increase the accuracy of national estimates.

在为实现千年发展目标而努力之后，过去数十年来，全球数十亿人获得了改善的饮用水源和卫生条件。全球进展仍然是一个总体指标，因为尚不清楚人口群体之间的获取是否公平。《 2030年议程》呼吁“不让任何人落后”，有必要着重关注不同人口群体在获取方面的差异，特别是在包括马拉维在内的中低收入国家的情况下。我们分析了人口健康调查（DHS）和多指标类集调查（MICS）的数据，以描述25年间（1992年至2017年）供水和卫生服务的进步和不平等的新兴趋势，并确定了马拉维最脆弱的人群。数据按地理和社会经济特征分类，包括地区，城市和农村地区，财富和教育水平。对现有数据的分析表明，所有人口群体在获得水和卫生设施方面取得了进展。通常在基数年较晚的群体中观察到最大的进展，这可能反映了针对减少人口差距的干预措施/改进措施的良好针对性。总体而言，结果表明，部分人口（最贫穷的南部农村人口）仍然无法获得水，被迫进行露天排便。最后，